Suspected Killer Reportedly Confessed to All Three Murders

The district attorney prosecuting Steven Thacker in Tennessee says Thacker confessed to all three murders of which he is accused. Prosecutors say Thacker began a crime spree with the kidnapping and

Wednesday, January 5th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The district attorney prosecuting Steven Thacker in Tennessee says Thacker confessed to all three murders of which he is accused. Prosecutors say Thacker began a crime spree with the kidnapping and murder of Laci Hill in Bixby.

Shortly after his arrest Sunday, Tennessee authorities say Steven Thacker confessed to all the murders he's accused of committing. Police detectives described him as "talkative" when they interviewed him about the crimes. Detectives from Oklahoma, Missouri and Tennessee interviewed Thacker before his arraignment Monday evening.

Thacker has been arrested before. His record in Florida, his home state, includes convictions for grand theft auto in 1989, 10 counts of check fraud in 1991, and another auto theft in 1991. He was incarcerated from November 1990 to February 1991; again from October 1991 to May 1992, and from June 1997 to May 1999.

Shortly after his release, he met Trena Roberson at a Tulsa nightclub. They married August 31st of last year. "He told me after our marriage that he was bipolar,â€ she said. â€œI told him that was serious, that he needed treatment, but he would never do it.â€

Roberson says her husbandâ€™s mood swings were extreme and his illness was never treated. Then in late December, he was laid off his job. Within days, Laci Hill was murdered, and that is when authorities believe Thacker started his crime spree.

After he was identified on surveillance video in Pryor, authorities tracked him to Springfield, Missouri, where he eluded a manhunt. He was tracked by credit card purchases heading east, eventually to a gas station in Dyersburg, Tennessee. The same gas station is where Ray Patterson was murdered, after swiping a stolen credit card authorities say Thacker gave him.

Thacker is jailed with a $5 million bond. He told the judge he had no money to hire an attorney. He'll next get a chance to plead to the Tennessee murder and robbery charges when he goes back to court January 12th. The Dyersburg Police Department is processing the three vehicles connected to Thacker in Tennessee. No decision has been made yet on which state will prosecute him first.